What Happens Next
by Hallie Black
Summary: A short dialogue between Lily and Sirius about what happens next...


WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Summary: This is a very short one-shot about what happens next… Small dialogue between Sirius and Lily. Tell me what you think about it!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any of the following characters and settings.

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"Sirius!" asked a red-haired young woman, shocked, as she stared at the tall, handsome man who had just entered the room. "What are you doing here?"

The man did not seem overenthusiastic about being there, and he glumly replied, "The same thing you're doing."

"But-" She didn't even finish the sentence she was about to make. She paused. "I'm not happy to see you."

He shrugged gloomily, and replied, "I know you're not. I'm not happy to be here either." He turned around, looking for a chair or anything to sit down, but as he didn't spot anything, he sat with his legs crossed on the hard stone floor. He stared around the cold, circular room he had ended in. It all seemed made of white marble, with gray veins running around the pillars. "Where is James?" he asked.

"Where could he be? He's around here somewhere…" she answered, as a silent tear fell down her cheek.

The man got up, headed towards the young woman, and pulled her gruffly in a hug. He was crying. "I'm happy to see you, Lily… To know you're still here… you still exist…"

She shook her head. "We're not still here, Sirius. It's over. Look at yourself!"

And Sirius did. And, to his astonishment, he saw that he was nothing more than mere, grayish smoke. "How can I touch you, then? How can I speak?"

She laughed. "We haven't disappeared, Sirius. We're just… dead. You can talk, you can do almost anything you used to do… except talk to _them_."

"Can't you see them? Those who're still alive?" he asked, surprised.

"Oh yes, you can see them," she replied, taking his hand and pulling him to a nearby mirror. As Sirius looked into it, he realized it seemed more like a window. There were people moving inside it. Not just vapor and smoke, but real people. And he recognized his godson, who was sleeping soundly in his bed. Lily was drying a tear in her eye, staring at her son. "But they can't see you." She paused. "You shouldn't have come so early."

He stared at her bitterly. "I didn't plan on falling behind that damn veil, you know," he replied.

She laughed softly again. "I know. But you had just gotten out of Azkaban, you had your whole life ahead of you. You didn't deserve to die like that."

He smiled. "I see you'd been watching me closely."

She returned his smile. "Well, I admit I looked mostly at Harry, no offense, but James wanted to know all about you." She stared at him thoughtfully. "I think he wanted you to have the life he didn't have a chance to have."

"I don't think my life was the life he'd have wanted," he answered.

"No, it wasn't. He was very sad all that happened to you." She paused. "And I want you to know something. For not one moment did we blame you for what happened with Peter. I know you've been blaming yourself."

He shrugged. "I – I shouldn't have switched."

She stared at him, her eyes boring into his. "No. It was fate that Peter was going to betray us. He'd have found another way. It was not your fault."

He shrugged again, looking almost longingly in the window.

"I'm really sorry you had to come," she said.

"I know, I am too," he replied heavily.

She stared in the window, too. "And what about Harry? Who's going to watch after him now that you're gone, too?"

He smiled. "He'll be fine. He's always made it, he'll make it again. Don't worry about him. Plus, with all three of us watching over him, what could hurt him?"

She stared at him with sorrow. "There'd be nothing we could do, anyway."

"That's not true. In that graveyard with Voldemort, you came back, you helped him out!" he replied, shocked.

She smiled. "You're right." She paused, pulling a strand of her red, smoky hair out of her eyes. Even if she was dead and almost vapor-like, Sirius could still see the bright green colour of those eyes. "James'll be so happy to see you."

"He will?" asked Sirius.

Lily stared at him. "He never wanted you dead, but I know he's been… well… _dying _to see you… to talk to you again…"

Sirius smiled. "Me too. I've just missed you two so much!"

She smiled back. "I know. And I've missed you, too." She sighed deeply, tilting her head towards the window. "And I miss _him_, most of all. I miss the life we never had a chance to have with him. To see him grow up, to help him out with his homework, to comfort him about his latest crush, to cheer for him as he mounted his broomstick…" She paused. "He's a really talented Quidditch player, you know…"

"I know," he replied, "but no surprise there: with a father like James it would've been hard for him not to be one…"

She began to dry her face again, as new tears made their way out of her bright green eyes. "I'm just so angry! I feel so cheated out of the future we were supposed to have… all three of us… as a family… One year as one is not enough…" Apparently, now that she had started talking, she was going to let all her rage out. "And all those times I saw my sister and her family with him, treating him like a scumbag… oh, how I wished I could have done something about it!" She paused. "I just… I wish he'd know we're here, and we still love him, and we care… You know, Sirius, sometimes I think this mirror is more like a torture than an actual gift for us… you see all these injustices, all these things you'd like to change, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about them…" And she dissolved in tears.

The man hugged her again, trying to comfort her the best he could. "Shhhhh… Don't cry… You will see him again, you know… Sooner or later… I hope later… he'll come… he is not immortal, he'll come… and then you will be able to have the life you never had a chance to have… you will hug him, and kiss him, and tell him that you care…" He smiled. "All right?"

She smiled, too. "Yes… You're right, Sirius. Thank you."

And she really meant it. It didn't matter to her right now that she was just going to have to see him from behind a mirror. Because, like Sirius said, sooner or later he was just going to have to come, and she was going to meet him when he did.

FIN

A/N: Liked it? Didn't like it? Let me know!


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